The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s new Science & Technology Facility has been rated LEED Platinum, an unusual achievement for a research building. Photo by Bill Timmerman courtesy of SmithGroup. Government lab achieves LEED Platinum The new Science & Technology Facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colo., is the first federal building to achieve LEED Platinum status. The 70,000-ft2 facility is only the second lab to score Platinum (the other is the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the Univ. of California-Santa Barbara). NREL’s building incorporates green features such as daylighting, evaporative cooling, high- efficiency HVAC equipment, high-tech windows, and energy- efficient lighting, and is designed to use 41% less energy than a conventionally designed building. The project also incorporated 11% recycled building materials and 27% locally manufactured materials. SmithGroup, Phoenix, was the design architect for the lab, which opened in June 2006. M.A. Mortenson Co., Denver, was the builder. For more: www.nrel.gov/news/press/2007/507.html. Mechanical contractors get green A new industry group, the Green Mechanical Council, has been formed to promote more efficient HVAC systems. GreenMech, as the group will be called, hopes to develop a 100-point rating system for mechanical systems; a system scoring a “perfect 100” would use zero net energy and produce no CO2 or pollutants. The group also intends to create education opportunities for contractors and technicians who work on “green” systems. Founding members of the organization include Watts Radiant, HVAC Excellence, Legend Valve, the Mechanical Contractors Assn. of America, the Mechanical Contractors Education and Research Foundation, FloorHeat Co., the United Assn. of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry, and Ferris State Univ. For more: www.greenmech.org. Buildings a key to fighting climate change An influential new report by the United Nations Environment Program Sustainable Building and Construction Initiative is likely to add momentum to green building efforts. The report, “Buildings and Climate Change: Status, Challenges, and Opportunities,” indicates that emissions of CO2 from the building sector account for 30 to 40% of global energy use, with about 80% accounted for by building operations and 20% by the construction process. “Easy” targets cited by the report include the complete phase out of incandescent light bulbs, greater use of existing technologies like thermal insulation and solar shading, and more efficient appliances and equipment. Natural ventilation, use of recycled and recyclable building materials, right-sizing of HVAC and utility infrastructure, and high-efficiency HVAC equipment are also discussed in the report. Copies can be downloaded free at: www.unepsbci.org. Labs grab design awards The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment has issued its Top Ten Green Projects award list for 2007. Honored as one of the Top Ten sustainable projects was the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Global Ecology Center in Stanford, Calif., an environmental research lab that also won a Special Mention for its sustainability features in R&D Magazine’s 2005 Lab of the Year competition. The design team included EHDD Architects, San Francisco, and Rumsey Engineers, Oakland, Calif. For more: www.aiatopten.org. Several research buildings were also cited recently in design awards given by the San Francisco chapter of the AIA. An Honor Award for Excellence in Architecture was presented to the Richard M. Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging, Stanford Univ., Stanford, Calif., designed by Perkins +Will, Los Angeles. An Honor Award in the Energy + Sustainability category was achieved by the San Mateo Sheriff’s Forensic Laboratory, San Mateo, Calif., designed by Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, San Francisco. (The San Mateo facility also received a Special Mention for sustainability features in the R&D 2004 Lab of the Year competition.) The AIA San Francisco also gave a special commendation for Integrated Practice techniques to the new California Academy of Sciences exhibit and research facility in San Francisco. The design team includes Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Italy; Chong Partners Architects, San Francisco; ARUP, San Francisco; and Webcor Builders, San Francisco. For more: www.aiasf.org/Programs/Awards_Program/Design_Awards.htm. Finally, the American Society of Landscape Architects has recognized the new Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth Swenson Science Building with an Honor Award in the general design category of its 2007 Professional Awards program. The landscape architecture features two exterior courtyards, an experimental garden pool, and a water garden with special emphasis on cultivation of wild rice, a native crop also studied by users of the facility. The landscape architect was Oslund and Associates, Minneapolis. For more: www.asla.org/awards/2007/07winners/237_oaala.html.